Nathan Tinkler's license to own A-League club Newcastle Jets "has been terminated," according to THE AUSTRALIAN. Tinkler had "earlier placed the club into voluntary administration" with debts of A$2.7M ($2.14M). Football Federation Australia said that it will "own and control" a new license to be issued to a fresh entity. FFA said it terminated the license of Tinkler's Hunter Sports Group because of "material breaches" of the license. FFA CEO David Gallop said, "HSG has behaved in a deplorable way towards the players and staff of the club in failing to meet basic obligations to pay wages" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 5/20). In Sydney, James Gardiner reported a senior delegation from FFA will "begin the process of rebuilding Newcastle Jets." Led by A-League CEO Damien de Bohun, the powerbrokers will meet
with Northern NSW Football, various Newcastle business and civic
leaders and "other key stakeholders." FFA had given Tinkler until 4pm on Wednesday to "pay this month's salaries and clear other debts, including superannuation," A$40,000 ($31,630) rent on the club's University of Newcastle training base and hiring fees at Hunter Stadium. It was the "third time in the past four months Tinkler had failed to pay wages on time." Player contracts for next season and beyond "will be transferred to the new entity." However, coaching and administration staff "will have their positions reviewed" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 5/20).
'NOT OVER YET': In Sydney, Barry Toohey reported Tinkler is "not done fighting just yet," accusing FFA of being "morally bankrupt" and warning they "may have taken the first step towards folding their own competition." The former billionaire "hinted at potential legal action." He said, "This could get ugly. They have proven just how selfish they are with their actions today. ... This is not over yet. I've got a buyer (Scottish club Dundee United)
there that they are engaging with and they are effectively trying to
pinch that buyer from me. I've engaged with that buyer to sell the club and that is still what I intend on doing." Asked how he would "go about that" given he no longer owns the license, Tinkler said, "That's what we are going to have the blue with the FFA about. The way it's going, they might have a few more of these licenses in their lap in the next couple of months." He claimed a sale to Dundee United for just less than A$5M ($3.95M) was "imminent" and wanted FFA to "give him the time to get the sale
across the line" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 5/20).
